What to Try at Azucar and New Cherry Items

Azúcar‘s pastry case of colorful confections can sometimes be confounding. There are so many tempting options, from mojito cookies to mini cakes, and everything looks delicious. So, what do you choose? I enlisted the help of owner Vivian Hernandez-Jackson, who selected her top five picks. Check them out on Serious Eats: Sweets.

My favorites of the five items Vivian selected were the chocolate sea salt caramels (just 50 cents each!) and the pistachio macaroon cookie, filled with tangy passionfruit curd (pictured above). Pro tip: if you let the cookie sit in the fridge, the curd firms up and becomes more dense, chewy, and refreshing.

Cream cheese and goat cheese are mixed together, topped with sour cherry compote, and bottomed with a spicy ginger crust in Azúcar’s goat cheese cherry cheesecake. Vivian says this cake is almost like a cheese course, since the goat cheese gives it such a tangy touch and it’s not overly sweet, but I couldn’t get past how the combination of cherry and spice made the cake taste just like Christmas. It seems only right to eat this dessert in footy pyjamas while watching Rudolph.

For the biggest cherry kick, go with the hand pie. It’s got the most cherries per square inch, and the tart flavor really stands out. I was an even bigger fan of the cherry almond florentine, which has a chewy layer of sweet honey caramel under the almonds and cherries. It’s a bit like a candy-coated cookie, with a few pops of sour cherry for contrast… and for $2, you can’t miss.